Decentralized multi-agent approach based on A* algorithm for on-demand transport problem

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Malas, Anas^{a; b; *} | El Falou, Salah^{a; b} | El Falou, Mohamad^c | Hussein, Mohammad^a

Affiliations: [a] Lebanese University, Tripoli, Lebanon | [b] Lebanese International University, Tripoli, Lebanon | [c] CESI, Rouen, France

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. E-mail: anas_malas@hotmail.com.

Abstract: The on-demand transport (ODT) systems have developed worldwide as they have significant social, environmental, and economic benefits. Even with those benefits, it’s still important to gain popular acceptance. The acceptance key is the reactivity of the system in providing fast and reliable solutions whilst respecting vehicles’ and clients’ constraints. This paper presents a decentralized multi-agent approach to model and solve the ODT problem in a static road network. The agents interact with each other using the A* algorithm to find an optimal solution for each transport demand. The optimal solution is expressed by the fastest trajectory taken by the cheapest vehicles. We utilize factual data from a Lebanese city to do experiments evaluating the proposed approach.

Keywords: A* algorithm, on-demand transport, decentralized approach, multi-agent system

DOI: 10.3233/WEB-221659

Journal: Web Intelligence, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 1-17, 2023